(Michael's PoV)
The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, I was walking through the door to my house.
I heard voices in the living room, and so I walked in there to see who was talking to my father.
"Jasmine?"
In the past few days, the woman had been in the hospital room all the time, usually talking to my mother while she slept, or having a conversation. I had learned to get along with her, and she seemed like a nice enough person.
That didn't explain why she was in the living room having a conversation with my father.
"Oh!" my father said, smiling. "You already know each other."
I nodded slowly. "What is she doing here?" I said, frowning.
Why? Why is the woman who took my mother away from my father talking to him?
My father looked at Jasmine. "She was at the hospital with your mother. I invited her over."
Jasmine smiled. "Come talk with us, Michael."
"Actually," I said awkwardly, "I'm going over to Jeremy's house tonight." I shrugged. "I'll probably stay over there."
"Okay," my father said, nodding. "Happy birthday, Micha."
I left the house with a warm feeling in my chest.
(Small time skip brought to you by: Kit Kat: Have a break, have a Kit Kat.)
I got out of my car and headed towards the door of Jeremy's house. Before I even got to the door, I could clearly hear giggling and muffled talking.
I knocked on the door and the giggling instantly ceased. I heard loud shushing.
The door opened to reveal a red-faced Jeremy. His hair was messed up and he was breathing heavily, sweating a little. "Come in," he said breathlessly, moving so I could go in first.
"Salamat, Jeremy," I said, smiling.
I followed the taller boy inside and was instantly tackled by at least four different people.
"Ugh— you're squishing me," I complained, laughing.
I felt everyone get off of me and I started feeling around for my glasses.
"You should have come earlier!" Rich's voice sounded in my ear, causing me to flinch. "We were having the pillow fight of all pillow fights."
"Yeah." Jenna. "You would have never guessed Rich was a guy, his squeals are so high pitched."
"Shut up, Jenna!" Rich. A thump followed that, along with an "oof."
"I can't see, guys," I whined, sitting up.
"Here." I felt a pair of soft hands touch mine, with something with thin metal frames and glass in them. I accepted the item when I figured out that they were my glasses.
"Salamat."
I put them on and watched the world come into focus. Jenna was whacking Rich repeatedly with a large white pillow. Brooke was taking pictures of me and Jeremy, and I realized my face must be as red as his. Jake was sitting in the corner with another pillow, ready to defend himself in case he was attacked.
"Stop!" Rich screamed, uncontrollably giggling as he squirmed on the floor. "I'm sorry!"
Jenna had resorted to tickling, and Rich was her victim. Jake stood up. "Leave him alone!" he said, whacking Jenna with his pillow.
"Never!" Jenna screamed, cackling.
Jeremy still hadn't moved from his spot next to me, and his eyes were locked on Brooke, who was still taking pictures. Suddenly he blinked, his face blushing to a dark shade of maroon. Coughing, he stood up, grabbing a pillow.
"What are you—" He hit me with the pillow. All of the air in my lungs was knocked out of me in one huff.
He laughed at my expression. "Oh my god! Your face—"
I stole his pillow and hit him with it. "Ugh," he huffed, clutching his stomach.
"Pff-ha-ha!" I laughed. "Oh my—"
Someone hit the back of my head. I spun around to see Rich grinning.
I'm glad I left my headphones at home.
"Fuck you," I said, hitting him back. He laughed it off and ran away to hit Jake.
Soon it was a free-for-all, with no one on anyone's side, everyone backstabbing and turning on one another. We quickly became six sweaty, red faced teenagers.
Finally, Jeremy flopped down on the couch. "I'm tired," he declared.
"Ooh!" Jenna shouted. "Presents!" She ran into Jeremy's room and returned with a few boxes. She handed me the first one, a thin, square box. I opened it.
A brand new Bob Marley CD. "Exodus".
A smile broke out on my face. "This is awesome!" I said, turning the CD case over to read the names of the songs.
"It's from me," Brooke supplied helpfully.
"Salamat, Brooke."
"What does that mean?" She said curiously. I looked at her, confused, until she repeated, "Salamat."
"Oh!" I said, smiling. "It means thank you."
She nodded in understanding. After a moment, she waved her arms. "Don't just sit there! Open another one!"
I nodded, grabbing another one. The second package was a bit smaller than the first, but it also was soft, like cloth. I opened it.
It was a Pac-Man patch. But instead, the Pac- Man was red and the pellets were blue.
Oh my god— that's so cute.
"I love it," I said, smiling and pocketing it.
"It's from Jakey-D," Rich said, kissing his boyfriend on the nose. Jake blushed and looked away.
"Salamat, Jake."
I picked up the last box, which was noticeably bigger. I looked at Jenna, Rich, and Jeremy, who were all looking at each other and grinning.
I put the box down. "Okay, What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Jeremy said, turning red. "Just open it."
I rolled my eyes jokingly and opened the box.
Under the wrapping paper was a box, and in the box was a six pack of Crystal Pepsi.
My eyes widened.
"Oh my fuck," I said.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"No— I'm serious! This is amazing!" I insisted.
They kept laughing.
"Assholes."
"No— it's not that," Rich choked out. "It's just— you said—" He curled up into a ball, laughing uncontrollably.
Now I needed to focus on calming Rich down.
"If you want, we could put this in your car," Brooke offered.
"Thanks, please do," I said, kneeling down next to Rich. "Stop laughing."
Rich's chest heaved as he struggled to get in a breath. After a minute he calmed down. "Okay," he said, exhaling and stretching out. "I'm good."
Brooke returned and sat on the couch next to Jeremy.
We sat in silence.
After a moment, Jenna whispered something in Brooke's ear and they both got up. "We'll be in Jeremy's room," Brooke said.
"Alright," Jeremy said, slouching. "Don't touch my video games."
Brooke rolled her eyes and followed Jenna.
"So," I said, grinning, "wanna get high?"
Rich nodded almost immediately, followed by Jake. I handed each of them a blunt from my pocket.
"Uh," Jeremy said as I lit mine and handed the lighter around, "is this a good idea?"
"No," I said. "But I'm eighteen. So I don't give a fuck."
"Fine," Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. "Give me one."
I gave him a blunt and he lit it, taking a puff. Almost immediately he started to cough, covering his mouth as the rest of us burst into laughter.
"Oh my god," Rich said. "Not like that, Jeremy. Like this." He demonstrated, taking his own puff— and not bursting into a fit of coughs.
Jeremy pouted, puffing again. "Let's play a game."
"Okay!" Jake said, grinning. He stood up and walked into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of liquor.
"How did you—" Jeremy started.
"It was in the cupboard," Jake explained.
"Uh, Jakey?" Rich said, taking the bottle away. "Weed and alcohol aren't a good combo."
I shook my head. Taking the bottle from Rich, I placed it on the ground. "We can just play with a full bottle."
"Guys," Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. "The bottle's empty."
I looked at the bottle. It was empty.
My face heated up. "Fuck you," I said, slightly embarrassed.
"You wish," Jeremy said, grinning.
I blushed harder.
"Okay," Rich said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Who's going first?"
Word count: 1262